Many micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) devices need to operate a constant temperature in order to operate correctly. At the same time, MEMS devices are often deployed in systems that experience very dynamic ambient temperature conditions. For example, a MEMS device may need to maintain a constant operating temperature even though the environment in which it is operating may vary between −40 deg. C. to +80 deg. C. Normally, to regulate the temperature of such a device when its environmental temperature is varying, active heating and cooling components may be thermally coupled to the device and cycled to achieve and maintain the desired device temperature. For example, thermal stabilization of MEMS components, crystal oscillators, laser sources, or chemical compounds for atomic vapor stabilization, over wide operating temperature ranges, are usually based on active heating/cooling feedback, which costs power. However, in low power applications, there may not be sufficient excess power resources available to operate active temperature management components.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for systems and methods for zero power automatic thermal regulation.